Fingerprints, palm prints, and other biometric data, in particular, friction ridge data or images are used by many government, commercial, residential or industrial entities for a variety of purposes. These purposes include, merely by way of illustration, identifying individuals at border locations, confirming identity for purposes of access control or authentication, and forensic investigations using biometric data left at the scene of a crime.
Each of these uses of friction ridge data or images requires capturing such data from an individual. These uses also often include storing such data in a database so that a comparison can be made between a newly captured sample and an existing sample in the database.
Currently, fingerprints are captured for inclusion in such a database in a variety of ways. Traditional fingerprint capture methods include capture of a fingerprint based on contact of the finger with paper or a platen surface. A paper based method includes pressing an individual's finger against an ink source and then pressing and rolling the finger onto a piece of paper. A platen method includes pressing or rolling a finger against a hard surface (e.g., glass, silicon, or polymer) and capturing an image of the print with a sensor. Both paper and platen fingerprint capture methods have higher than preferable occurrence of partial or degraded images due to factors such as improper finger placement, skin deformation, slippage and smearing or sensor noise from wear and tear on surface coatings, or too moist or too dry skin. Such fingerprint capture methods also have challenges with respect to hygiene and contamination between multiple individuals placing their fingers or hands in a common ink pad or on a common surface.
While various touchless fingerprint capture methods have been proposed, these also face challenges of acquiring a high quality and accurate image, due to reduced control around actual placement of a finger, hand or palm with respect to an image capture device. An improved method for friction ridge capture would be welcome.